These two authors have served a lifetime of commitment to, and love for, the Seventhday Adventist Church. Nothing that they say in this treatise is to be understood as critical or judgmental of the church or its leadership to which they remain completely loyal.
We are making one simple inquiry: Has the 1888 message of Christ's righteousness been proclaimed and published in our official press one hundred years later?
Whether the answer turns out to be yes or no, the inquiry is not trivial. The 1888 message of justification by faith was identified by Ellen White as "the third angel's message in verity." If she was correct, it must follow that this gospel message is the very lifeblood, the essence, of this church's existence and mission and the only hope for its future. Hence we need offer no apology for investigating the available evidence. Our prayer is that we may be enabled to pursue the inquiry with an objective spirit and to fulfil Paul's entreaty that we should ever speak the truth in love.
Again, whether the answer to our question turns out to be yes or no, it will not in the least call into question whether the church is making great progress numerically, socially, financially, and even spiritually. In other words, if perchance our inquiry should lead to a negative answer, this would not mean that the Lord has forsaken the church or its leadership. It would only mean that repentance and reformation are in order.
For example: it is now generally agreed that the message was "in a great degree" rejected by the leadership a century ago, yet outwardly the church has made great progress numerically and financially ever since. A church does not need the pure gospel in order to prosper in these ways—witness the Roman Catholics, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, and a host of Evangelical denominations. Some enjoy fabulous church growth and boast of what we as yet do not have—numerous megachurches. Yet they know nothing about "the third angel's message in verity."
In fact no church or denomination anywhere needs "the third angel's message in verity" unless it is dedicated to one unique objective: preparing a people for the second coming of Christ, and for meeting the issues of the mark of the beast and the seal of God, which immediately precede that coming.
If we choose to abandon that objective, it follows that this inquiry is much ado about nothing, and deserves no one's serious attention.
But if we hold to that objective as the reason for our existence as a denominated people, then the subject matter of this inquiry assumes vital importance. It is general knowledge that serious problems confront this church on almost every level. There is no end of discussion about why these problems have become so severe and difficult to resolve.
We begin with the firm conviction that the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation." If this is true, it must follow that those problems are directly related to a failure to grasp what is that gospel; and recovering it must then be the surest way to solve our problems.
Our Centennial saw some very good news develop, evidence that the Lord has been working. There is reason to be encouraged if we love the prospect of "a most precious message" yet to lighten the earth with glory.